


Of Rocks and Runaways

by Gehayi



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Backstory, Gen, Miscommunication, runaways - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-16
Updated: 2016-10-16
Packaged: 2018-08-22 16:52:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8293070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gehayi/pseuds/Gehayi
Summary: Nory is angered that a small child ran into danger after contact with Evvy. Feeling that she's being blamed for something she didn't do, Evvy fights back. Diverges from canon at the end of Chapter 20 of Melting Stones.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I am not Tamora Pierce, nor am I making any profit from this story.
> 
> The italicized portion at the beginning of the story is a quotation from the end of Chapter 20 of _Melting Stones_.

_"While you were playing mage, Meryem decided you would like her again if she gave you a pretty rock she left at home. She went back. I'm not allowed to find her. I'm needed to look after the others. So she's dead in all these shakes, or she's hurt, or she's going to starve. All because you're a pig who's mean to little girls!"_

_Then she punched me in the eye and walked off._

Blinking, I half-dismounted and half-fell off of Spark and then stumbled after Nory. "Wait. You _knew_ that she was going back to get a rock? And you didn't stop her? _Nobody_ stopped her?"

That baffled her. "What do you mean?"

"You said that she was going back home to get a pretty rock to make me like her," I repeated with as much patience as I could muster. "That sounds like she told you where she was going and why. And yet you didn't grab her arm and tell her she wasn't going back? Or give her something to do that would make her think about something other than me? Or get a grownup involved? There are enough people around the docks here, and some people were shepherding others earlier. Or tell Oswin? Or did you just decide that she must have gone home to get a pretty rock because Meryem runs away whenever she gets upset, and she's been upset ever since Rosethorn and Fussp--Myrrhtide and I came to Starns?"

"She's only been upset because you've been mean to her!"

"I've been trying to make some stubborn volcano spirits _not_ blow up the island!" I yelled. "I just about got them to go three miles out to the southeast. Forgive me for thinking that making sure that you and your village _had_ an island and a home to come back _to_ was important! _That's_ what I was starting to do when Meryem found me. I told her to go back to the others. To find _you_. I _said_ that I was busy, that I had mage things to do, that I needed _quiet_." 

I heaved a sigh. "And she said that she thought I was her friend. I don't know why she thought that. I don't want her dead or anything, no, but I've only been here a week or so, and I've spent half that time unconscious or in a trance. I've seen her, what, three times? Four? The first time, you told me to give her a bath, remember? And she ran away then."

"And you fell asleep!"

"Luvo told you," I said, shaking my head. "A volcano could have come up from under Oswin's pond if I hadn't gone into a trance right then. And I _did_ go after her before that." A sudden thought skittered across my mind. "I wonder if she runs away to _make_ people chase after her."

"Why would she do something like that?" Nory was not giving an inch.

"Maybe because, in Meryem's mind, if people chase her, then she has value. They want her back." 

Silence.

"Anyway," I continued. "That was the first time." I cast my mind back. "She screamed then that she wasn't going to leave. That everyone was always making her leave places. I told her that people were making her leave Starns to save her life, but that didn't make any impression. And later, she was terrified that someone was going to take away the Dreadful Doll."

"Don't you make fun of her! Don't you _dare_!"

"Then she and Treak came to the room I share--shared--with Rosethorn," I continued, not certain what Nory wanted me to say. The doll _was_ dreadful. That didn't mean that Meryem wasn't allowed to love it. "I didn't even know they were _there_ until I came up to go to bed after a long mage-working and a _lot_ of questioning from your village elders. But I talked to both of them for a while. Then Treak broke...something that mattered a lot to me."

"A rock." Nory's tone was openly derisive. "A stupid _rock_. That's all you care about."

"It was beautiful and it was mine. And I was showing it to Meryem when Treak grabbed it out of my hand. I'd _said_ that it was fragile." I forced myself to say the rest of it. I didn't like talking about Gyongxe. "Treak was wearing a red shirt that day."

"So?" It was amazing how much scorn Nory could pour into one word.

"So--just for a second--I saw that shirt and flashed back to...to a war Rosethorn and I were in. The enemy soldiers wore red tunics. They broke things. They _loved_ breaking things. Sometimes they broke people, too."

By now my arms were wrapped around me and I was shivering. 

"It was like I was back in Gyongxe. I couldn't..." I wasn't sure _what_ I couldn't do. Deal with losing one more beautiful thing I'd loved, like my cats? Stop myself from panicking? "And I told them to get out. Treak didn't understand why, because why would a stone mage care about stones? And Meryem kept begging me not to be mad at her--even though I said I wasn't." I felt as if I'd said it repeatedly. "And I meant it."

For a moment, Nory fell silent. "I didn't know you'd been in a war," she said at last.

I didn't want to talk about Gyongxe. "It was...bad." I gave myself a shake. "Anyway, that's been my contact with Meryem--she's almost always upset, and half the time she's running away from you or someone else." I held up a hand. "I understand running away. I do. I spent a lot of time running from gangs. I ran away from my owner when I was about her age. But--"

"You were a _slave?_ "

"In Chammur, yes." When she eyed me suspiciously, I decided to elaborate. "There was a famine in Yanjing when I was little. My parents and brothers and I fled. When we got to Chammur, my parents sold me." _For only two silver_ devs. _I wasn't just sold as a slave; I was sold cheap._

Nory's mouth was opening--to say something sarcastic, I was sure--so I added, "And if you say one word about my parents not wanting me, I'll punch **you**." _Mainly because it's true._ "Now. Which way did she go?"

" _What?_ "

"I told you. I don't want her to die." I also didn't want the island to blow up, but I didn't know what else I could do on that score. And since no one--not even any village guards or watchmen--seemed inclined to go after one six-year-old who wouldn't stop running away even in the face of volcanic eruption, I supposed that finding her was down to me. "Which way?"

She pointed toward Oswin's house. Southeast. Of course. Heibei, the Yanjingyi god of humor and luck, must have been laughing his head off at this prank.

I nodded, staggered back to Spark, pulled myself onto her back once more and dug my heels into her side. As Spark got moving, I thought of one more question for Nory. "Why does Meryem think that pretty rocks will buy my friendship? Why does she _want_ a friendship that she has to buy?"

"Let me get on the horse and I'll tell you."

It sounded like a fair bargain to me. Meryem occasionally listened to Nory. She had never listened to what I was saying without reinterpreting it as "Evvy is my friend" or "Evvy hates me." I persuaded Spark to stop, and Nory got on behind me. As we began moving again, Nory started speaking.

"You know that we're pirate kids. Well--Meryem's mother loved precious stones. Forget silver or gold; she went for the jewels every time. She said that jewels were reliable; they were always worth something, even if coins weren't. A treasure worth seeking, she said, though sometimes they were hard to find. She didn't think much of kids, though. Always underfoot, she said. Always pestering her.

"What you said earlier about Meryem running away to make people chase her...you're right." The last two words were bitter. "I think that Meryem decided early on that the only way to be valued was to be a treasure. And treasures had to be...well, anything but underfoot. And definitely hard to find."

"And I love rocks," I said flatly, feeling the answers slotting into place. 

"I don't think anyone has ever loved rocks more," Nory said bitterly. "Not even Meryem's mother."

I sighed. I didn't like it; I was no child-minder, despite Rosethorn constantly assigning me to help Nory do just that, and I didn't much care for Nory's automatic assumption that I was responsible for making Meryem, who regularly got upset and bolted like a rabbit, get upset and bolt like a rabbit. And while I didn't wish Meryem any ill, I didn't want to be the friend of a six-year-old; that was such a strange idea that I couldn't even wrap my mind around it. 

But if I could fight to save an entire island, I could fight to save one little piece of it. Or one of the island's residents, anyway. It wasn't my job to save Meryem--but I could choose to try. Even though, and I had to admit this, the chances were not good.

_Luvo_ , I said, calling to him through my magic as Spark trotted away from the docks, _Meryem's gone back to Oswin's. Nory and I are going to find her. **Fast**. Hopefully we'll be back before the ship sails. If not, I'll see Rosethorn--_

I was stuck. I didn't know when I'd see her again, in this life or the next. 

_After,_ I said, giving up. _I'll see Rosethorn after._

And closing off my power to Luvo's shouts--as much as I could, that is--I opened my eyes and began scanning the path for signs that a small child had recently returned along this way.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written because I really, REALLY didn't like Evvy being blamed by Nory and Rosethorn for Meryem's actions. Evvy had been repeatedly working herself to the point of collapse to save the lives of the people of Starns--yet she got punched by Nory and called a destroyer by Rosethorn for telling a pesky six-year-old that she was busy and needed to concentrate on magework (which was true). There were plenty of other people who could have watched Meryem other than Evvy. Nory herself. Oswin, Meryem and Nory's adoptive father. Most of the village, really. 
> 
> And since I didn't feel that blaming Evvy was fair or that she had to be guilted into doing the right thing and looking for the kid, I rewrote the scene.


End file.
